The simulated moving bed separation apparatus comprises a circulation fluid passage, which is formed by endlessly connecting a plurality of beds packed with a separation filler. A circulation fluid circuit is provided with an eluent inlet for introducing an eluent, an extract outlet for discharging a solution rich in adsorbable substances or strongly adsorbable substances, a stock solution inlet for introducing a stock solution containing a mixture of components, which are to be separated, and a raffinate outlet for discharging a solution rich in non-adsorbable or weakly adsorbable substances sequentially in this order in the direction of the fluid flow, wherein the inlets and outlets are successively shifted intermittently.
In the simulated moving bed separation apparatus, there are provided a desorption zone (IV), which comprises filler beds placed between the eluent inlet and the extract outlet, wherein the separation filler retaining a concentrated adsorbed or strongly adsorbed components is contacted with an eluent and the adsorbed or strongly adsorbed components are expelled from the separation filler; a concentration zone (III), which comprises filler beds placed between the extract outlet and the stock solution inlet, wherein the non-adsorbable or weakly adsorbable components remaining on the separation filler are expelled and the adsorbable or strongly adsorbable components are concentrated; a refining zone (II), which comprises filler beds placed between the stock solution inlet and the raffinate outlet, wherein the stock solution is contacted with the separation filler and adsorbable or strongly adsorbable components are adsorbed on the separation filler and non adsorbable or weakly adsorbable components are recovered with the eluent; and an adsorption zone (I), which comprises filler beds placed between the raffinate outlet and the eluent inlet, wherein the non-adsorbable or weakly adsorbable components are adsorbed on the separation filler and the eluent, in which the non-adsorbed or weakly adsorbed components are depleted, is recovered.
When a simulated moving bed separation apparatus is assembled, a separation filler, which separates the components to be separated, must be packed into columns first of all.
Conventionally, columns are packed with a filler one by one and the packed columns are inspected one by one. More specifically, there are dry method and wet method for packing columns in filler packing.
In the case of the wet packing, a column, which is a cylinder, is positioned upright and an end stopper is fixed to the bottom opening at the bottom end thereof. The top end of the column is connected to the bottom opening of a reservoir tank. Thus the inside space of the column is communicated with the reservoir tank. When the column is connected to the reservoir tank, it is still empty. The reservoir tank is provided with a closable slurry-introducing inlet and a solvent-supplying inlet at the top thereof. A column is connected to the reservoir tank and the slurry-introducing inlet of the reservoir tank is opened to allow the slurry to flow into the reservoir tank.
In this connection, a slurry suitable for wet packing is the one comprising a filler having an average particle diameter of about 50 .mu.m dispersed in a dispersion solvent at a concentration of 10-60 wt/vol %. Then the slurry-introducing inlet is closed and a dispersion solvent is forcibly introduced into the reservoir tank through the solvent-supplying inlet. The forced introduction of the dispersion solvent promotes settling of the filler in the slurry in the reservoir tank and the column. After the filler has fully settled, the forced introduction of the dispersion solvent is stopped and the column is removed from the reservoir tank. Thereafter, the top opening of the column is tightly closed with a removable stopper or a fixed stopper.
In the dry packing, a column, which is a cylinder, is positioned upright, an end stopper is fixed to an end stopper opening. Then powder of a filler having a large average diameter (at least far larger than the filler dispersed in the slurry to be used in wet method) is poured into the column. The filler is poured into the column up to the level of the top opening of the column and then the column is subjected to vibration. The vibration can be applied to the column from the beginning of pouring the filler powder. When the vibration is applied to the column, the filler packed up to the level of the top opening thereof is further compacted and sinks and a void space appears at the top of the column. The filler is further supplied into this space. At the time when the filler no longer sinks even if the filler is added under vibration, the vibration and pouring of the filler are stopped. The top opening of the column is closed with an end stopper.
The simulated moving bed separation apparatus is usually provided with 8, 12, 16 or 24 or more columns. It is time-consuming to manually pack such numbers of columns one by one. Suppose that it takes one hour to pack a column with a filler, it will take 16 hours to pack the columns and prepare a simulated moving bed separation apparatus provided with 16 columns to the condition for operation. This is very inefficient. The above-mentioned one hour for instance is the shortest time when a worker exclusively devotes himself to the packing work. In the practical operation, however, the packing work is accompanied by various incidental operations and, therefore, it takes far more time. That is, it is troublesome, complicated, and time-consuming to manually pack columns one by one. When 16 columns are packed for instance, it is difficult in fact to uniformly and evenly pack all the 16 columns. The packing density of the first column and that of the 16th columns are often different. It is considered that it is because the filler concentration in a slurry changes in a long operation time required for packing operation. Even if 16 columns are packed with a filler by the troublesome and complicated column-by-column operation, the apparatus cannot be used until each column is tested and evaluated for its performance.
In a conventional simulated moving bed separation apparatus, a circulating fluid passage is formed by connecting a plurality of columns end-to-end with conduits and all the columns are arranged in a line for instance. Therefore, the apparatus is inevitably of a large size requiring some space.
The object of this invention is to provide a filler-packing apparatus, a filler-packed column assembly, and a filler-packing method, which solve the above-described problem. In other words, the object of the invention is to provide a filler-packing apparatus, which enables uniformly packing filler into columns by simple operation within a short period of time, a filler-packing method using said apparatus and a compact assembly of columns uniformly packed with filler.